Labor of Love or PITA?

[ggsteve]

I'm starting to remember why I gave up this hobby 20 years ago. It hasn't been a good week. Despite my attempts to "make things better" my 3 month old 65 gal reef tank is getting worse. My little brain coral frag has started bleaching, one of my mushrooms and a leather coral look stressed, red cyano is rampant and I haven't seen my prized flame angel in 4 days.

I'm doing weekly 10% water changes. Any more will be a real hassle, but apparently it's not enough. Calcium is 380, dKH is 7-8, pH is 7.9, Phosphate is .25 and everything else I have a test for is 0.

The only thing I did differently to the tank was to add 1 tsp of baking soda in with my RODI top off water to boost the alkalinity which had dropped to 6.5. It raised the dKH a half point. I repeated this two days later. Did I ruin my tank? This is discouraging. I could keep 100 discus alive in a fishbowl, but when I try to do things right in my reef I cause nothing but problems. Thanks for letting me rant. I think I'm done now.

[lcs]

I don't blame you for being frustrated! Keep up with the maintenance and things will come around. Your tank is still very young and experiencing "growing pains". It can take a year or more for a tank so really settle in. Your numbers are all right, but there is definately some X factor involved with reef tanks - some kind of equilibrium is reached between chemistry, lighting, livestock, and you - that just takes time. I also dose with baking soda - about 1/2 tsp every other day to keep my alk around 8 (took more than that for a while to get it up there from just under 7) in my top off. I don't think it was that, but I'm far from an expert!

Hang in there!

[Deinonych]

Phosphate levels could be causing problems. A 0.5 swing in dKH shouldn't cause problems.

[tatuaje08]

My reef parameters are 450 ca, 10 dkh and 1400mg. I suppliment my top off water is pickling lime. Your ca seems a bit low. What is your mag?

[tatuaje08]

Cyano could be causing stress. Have you gone lights out for a couple days? You'll want to export that stuff asap and find the cause or else it may come back. I find that frequent water changes are helpfull when fighting algae. And make sure your skimmer is performing well.

[ggsteve]

My reef parameters are 450 ca, 10 dkh and 1400mg. I suppliment my top off water is pickling lime. Your ca seems a bit low. What is your mag?

I don't have a Mg test yet.... I know, I know... I'm using reef crystals, hoping that will maintain the proper parameters, but it looks like I will need to supplement. I guess I should pick up some form of Calcium chloride. Can someone recommend a non-bank-breaking, reliable, easy-to-use magnesium test kit?

[Palting]

I'm starting to remember why I gave up this hobby 20 years ago. It hasn't been a good week. Despite my attempts to "make things better" my 3 month old 65 gal reef tank is getting worse. My little brain coral frag has started bleaching, one of my mushrooms and a leather coral look stressed, red cyano is rampant and I haven't seen my prized flame angel in 4 days.

I'm doing weekly 10% water changes. Any more will be a real hassle, but apparently it's not enough. Calcium is 380, dKH is 7-8, pH is 7.9, Phosphate is .25 and everything else I have a test for is 0.

The only thing I did differently to the tank was to add 1 tsp of baking soda in with my RODI top off water to boost the alkalinity which had dropped to 6.5. It raised the dKH a half point. I repeated this two days later. Did I ruin my tank? This is discouraging. I could keep 100 discus alive in a fishbowl, but when I try to do things right in my reef I cause nothing but problems. Thanks for letting me rant. I think I'm done now.

I don't have a Mg test yet.... I know, I know... I'm using reef crystals, hoping that will maintain the proper parameters, but it looks like I will need to supplement. I guess I should pick up some form of Calcium chloride. Can someone recommend a non-bank-breaking, reliable, easy-to-use magnesium test kit?

I am surprised you have to supplement anything in a 3 month old tank if you are using reef crystals and doing 10% weekly water changes.

Sometimes, going back and reviewing the basics is a good thing and can solve problems,
1. Are you using RODI with 0 TDS water?
2. Are you running 1.026 salinity or 35ppt?
3. What are your lights, and where Is your brain coral situated in relation to the lights?
4. How is the flow in the tank? Total GPH flow?
5. How are you feeding, if at all?

[ggsteve]

Sometimes, going back and reviewing the basics is a good thing and can solve problems,
1. Are you using RODI with 0 TDS water? YES
2. Are you running 1.026 salinity or 35ppt? 1.024 but it's not the Red Sea
3. What are your lights, and where Is your brain coral situated in relation to the lights? 2 Actinic and 2 daylight T5's, the frag is about a foot down and was doing fine until this week
4. How is the flow in the tank? Total GPH flow? Good water movement from one flow pump, I don't know the volume, plus the split lockline 400gph return
5. How are you feeding, if at all? Flake and frozen brine shrimp, sparingly

[Palting]

Okay. Your 1.024 salinity explains your need to supplement alk and cal. Especially if you are using a swing arm hydrometer, your true SG may even be lower. 1.026 is the recommended salinity for reef aquaria. If you raise your SG to a true 1.026, your alk, cal, and all the essential minerals in SSW should all go up across the board.

Positioning and light seem to be good, IMO :thumbsup:

Not sure about your flow. LPS like your brain coral like moderate flow, and will tolerate high flow better than low flow. Moderate flow means a total GPH of at least 20X to 30X DT volume. Try to find out by googling your brand and model flow pump what it's flow is, and see if you're within the ball park.

My brain corals like to eat. They send out feeding tentacles an hour after lights out, with so many tentacles they look like anemones. I've slowly trained them to let out their tentacles even in daylight by target feeding them twice a week.

.25 phosphate isn't bad, but I'm sure there is a lot trapped in that cyano bloom. Consider vacuuming the cyano out with each water change, and maybe run some GFO.

I sympathize with your frustration, and I hope this helps.

[ggsteve]

Okay. Your 1.024 salinity explains your need to supplement alk and cal. Especially if you are using a swing arm hydrometer, your true SG may even be lower. 1.026 is the recommended salinity for reef aquaria. If you raise your SG to a true 1.026, your alk, cal, and all the essential minerals in SSW should all go up across the board.

Positioning and light seem to be good, IMO :thumbsup:

Not sure about your flow. LPS like your brain coral like moderate flow, and will tolerate high flow better than low flow. Moderate flow means a total GPH of at least 20X to 30X DT volume. Try to find out by googling your brand and model flow pump what it's flow is, and see if you're within the ball park.

My brain corals like to eat. They send out feeding tentacles an hour after lights out, with so many tentacles they look like anemones. I've slowly trained them to let out their tentacles even in daylight by target feeding them twice a week.

.25 phosphate isn't bad, but I'm sure there is a lot trapped in that cyano bloom. Consider vacuuming the cyano out with each water change, and maybe run some GFO.

I sympathize with your frustration, and I hope this helps.

I do vacuum the cyano with every water change. I will slowly raise my salinity over the next few days. Thanks for your help.

[Breadman03]

I do vacuum the cyano with every water change. I will slowly raise my salinity over the next few days. Thanks for your help.

From what I've read, replacing your evaporation loss with water at 1.026 will be a great way to get there efficiently.

[cugly]

Try chemiclean it works really well have water ready and keep an eye on skimmer...follow directions. .goodluck..and then figure out what causing your cyano problem. .

[ggsteve]

I've slowly raised the salinity up to 1.026. The little brain coral frag seems happier but I lost my leather hand coral. Now the cyano seems to be slowing down but now I have bubble algae. Ugg!